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A blog about living, loving, and urban homesteading in the Pacific North West & Midwest. Everything from gardening and home renovation to recipes and moving tips. Building community and growing together.

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We have been using outdated checklists since we moved into our new place, just because everything has been so dysfunctional in our lives. I think there is a point at which routine & organizing is impossible, and then a point at which routine & organizing will help you get the rest of the way to where you want to be. There's definitely a tipping point, just as there is with menu planning. I think we've finally hit that tipping point.

Finally today I've got our checklists updated and ready to be printed. One of the nice things about living in a place before updating the lists is that we can see what's been missed and make sure to get it on the list. So that's helpful. Bright side, right?

I have to tell you though, don't skip getting the shopping list white board up on the wall as soon as you move in. Forgetting that rice vinegar was on the list for over a month was torture when I kept re-discovering for three whole weeks that I was out. Or the day we forg…

As I started this blog originally when moving down to live with and care for Mr. Moon's parents, even though I've avoided detailing his struggle with cancer it seems only right that I should post the sad news we received yesterday. Mr. Moon's father has passed on.

It certainly wasn't sudden, but there were sudden drastic declines in health along the way, almost like a flight of stairs. His children, wife, friends and family had lots of time with him before the final days were clearly upon us, and then those closest to him were given the chance to stop in and say their goodbyes. For Mr. Moon and I, our friends have been fantastically supportive, and for that we will always be grateful. It is a comfort to know that he was not in much pain until the very end, and that modern medical care was able to ease that pain for the most part so he never suffered. Not all terminally ill patients are afforded such an easy transition, and everyone who loved him is not taking that fact…

One of these is kale, the other is mustard greens. These and the lettuce below, I'm not sure at what point I start thinning and eating micro/baby greens.

It took a while, but the dill decided to come out to play! Plus a volunteer oregano there at the bottom left corner.

Marigolds! I'm pretty excited for these. When I was planting I was really disappointed in my lack of nasturtiums this year, but I've got more pots now! Hanging ones even. I don't think we get warm enough or enough sunlight around here for tomatoes, so maybe I will use my hanging pots for nasturtiums.

The scallions are so much happier outside in dirt with some sun than they were on my counter with no sun in a glass of water that we rarely remembered to change. However, they grow more slowly out here which makes me a little sad.

My lavender did decide to grow back! Maybe I will cut off the silly stump now.

A family-of-friends on Facebook posted that one of them had brought forth a family recipe and it was amazing. This family recipe such as it was came with some vague instructions (not unlike my own "recipes"), and I added it to my mental list of Things To Try At Some Point.

Of course, being me, I didn't need much more than the vague instructions to fly off in my own direction. And thus, this casserole was born. (I'm adjusting directions for better flavor than what I did, don't be alarmed that the layers are in a different order than the pics; you still get the idea.)
Ingredients: 3/4 lb or more ground beef1 onion, dicedseasonings to taste1/2 lb mushrooms, quartered (optional)1/2 green pepper, diced (unpictured, optional)Pickle chips, or relishketchupmustardCheese of your choice, separated (pictured: muenster sliced, cheddar shredded)Raw biscuit dough, enough to feed 2 biscuits to everyone (canned is fine, as is Jiffy mix)garlic bread seasoning, or granulated garlic…

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world... From a small university town in Michigan to the slightly larger city of Seattle. I'm a dreamer, a schemer, and an explorer. I'm very glad my partner lets me have a polyamorous love affair with coffee, because Coffee and I love each other very much. I'm coming to terms with being disabled; living with PTSD, OCD, and other such Alphabet Soup mental health complications, plus a bunch of physical Stuff including chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and limited mobility. I feel like this blog is an important part of my journey. Something I need to share with others, to help us all grow and learn and change ourselves for the better with a sense of community about us. It's at least 50% cooking, but there's a bunch of other stuff here too!